They rode for a long time after dawn broke until Katis was stumbling and lathered. Then Johnny dismounted and led the horse to cool him out while Luci sat the saddle, still naked and painted.
She looked down at his wide back as he led the horse. “You’ve made an outcast of yourself among your own people to save me.”
He didn’t look back. “You think I don’t know that?”
“What about Deer? I thought you wanted to marry her. She won’t want you now.”
“What about her? I was only agreeing to marry the conniving little bitch to save your life.”
“To save me?” So it was true.
He looked back over his shoulder. “I know it’s loco to give up everything to save an enemy girl.”
She wanted to ask why he had done it; but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. “Hahoo,” she said finally. “Thank you.”
After a few minutes, he mounted up behind her and they rode at a slow pace with Johnny’s hands warm on her bare waist. Luci was suddenly aware of her nakedness and the heat of his hands on her skin. “I–I wish I had some clothes.”
He chuckled. “When we stop again, I’ll get you one of my shirts from my saddlebags. Right now, there’s no one to see you but me, and if you’ll remember, I’ve seen everything you’ve got to offer.”
She felt her face burn but she didn’t say anything. After all, modesty wasn’t as important now as escaping.
He finally stopped, pulled a buckskin shirt from his saddlebags, and gave it to her. The sun climbed in the sky as they kept moving across the prairie. At times, Johnny would walk the big horse to cool it out. Then he would climb back up behind her in the saddle and push Katis into a slow lope.
Once in sheer exhaustion, she slumped back against him and he held her tightly a long moment, brushed his lips across the back of her neck, then seemed to remember himself and straightened up. But she felt his manhood swell and throb against the back of her hips.
His body wanted her. She knew he had always wanted her. And she had denied the fact that she yearned to couple with him because she was saving her precious virginity for a Cheyenne husband. But she was obliged to Johnny Ace. He had saved her life and she owed him something. She was too proud to owe an enemy. How could she pay him?
It was almost dark before Johnny crossed a small creek with a few sheltering cottonwoods and reined in. “I think we can camp here for the night.”
He must have felt her unasked question because he looked back over his shoulder. “If they haven’t come after us and caught us up by now, maybe they aren’t going to try. They may be thinking about how mad the Long Knives, the Lachikuts, would be if they heard about the sacrifice. They know I ride for the cavalry. They may figure I’ve made it all the way to the fort and General Carr will send his troops out in retaliation.”
He dismounted and reached up his hands to her. Luci hesitated, then slid off into his arms. His hands were hot, almost spanning her small waist.
He looked down at her then hesitated. For a long moment, she thought he would kiss her. But instead, he took a deep, shuddering breath and pushed her away. “I’ve got a little dried meat in my saddlebags. While I make camp, you can wash up and get that damned paint off!”
She owed him a great obligation and now she knew how she would repay him. Luci went to the creek, took off his shirt, and washed off the paint. When she looked up, he stood on the creek bank staring at her. “I had forgotten how beautiful you were,” he said softly. “Did they hurt you? Did that damned Charish–”
“No, no man touched me,” she said quickly, her face burning as- she realized what he was asking.
“Of course, the sacrifice is supposed to be a virgin.” He seemed to think aloud. “If I had taken you myself back at the fort, you might not have been in any danger.”
She didn’t say anything as she slipped the shirt over her head, very much aware that he watched her as she did so. “I seem to spend a lot of time wearing your clothes,” she tried to smile brightly, but he didn’t smile.
They walked back to where Katis grazed. Johnny spread a blanket, gesturing for her to sit. The shirt was so big, she had to push up the sleeves to accept the smoked meat he handed her.
It was good; smoky and salty She dug her small teeth into it with relish. “Are we in any danger stopping to rest here?”
He shrugged as he ate. “Katis needs rest. So do we. Somehow, I think they may be regretting getting caught up in this sacrifice thing. They’ll be afraid I’ll bring the soldiers back to attack them.”
“You’ve made an outcast of yourself among your own people.”
He paused in eating. “I don’t fit in anyway, never have. I suppose I belong with the whites.”
“But you aren’t white, you’re Pawnee.”
“Am I?” He laughed coldly as he finished his meat and began to roll a cigarette. “Star Eyes, there are times I don’t know what the hell I am. I’m not white, I’m not Indian. I really belong nowhere and no one cares what I do or where I go.
She started to say that she cared, but she reconsidered. Nothing could overcome the wide chasm between them. But she owed him and she was proud.
The sun set all purple and gold as he finished his cigarette. Johnny stretched and yawned. “I’m going to wash up and we’ll rest a few hours here in the cover of these trees. Before dawn, we’ll ride on into the fort.”
The fort. She didn’t even want to think about what lay ahead tomorrow. She still didn’t know what she was going to do. Maybe she should swallow her pride and go to Denver with Winnifred Starrett.
Johnny went off down to the creek in the growing twilight. While she heard him splashing, she made her decision. She owed the scout. She knew what pay he’d want.
When he came back from the creek, bare-chested, the water glistening on his wet, dark skin, Luci had stripped off the buckskin shirt and sat naked on the blanket.
His eyes widened in surprise. “What the hell you think you’re doing?”
“Sometimes you sound more like a smart-alec cowboy than an Indian,” she said, standing up.
His gaze swept from her feet up to the top of her head, lingering on the dark vee of her thighs, on her small, firm breasts. Luci didn’t flinch. She stood there, letting him look her up and down, almost feeling heat from his dark eyes staring at her nude body.
“You didn’t answer me,” He sounded tense. “I don’t know what your game is, Star Eyes, but–”
“No game,” she said softly. “I owe you. I owe you for everything you’ve done for me from the start. And I only have one way to pay.” She held out her arms.
He swore softly under his breath. “A whore. You’re gonna whore for it?”
She flinched at the anger in his tone but she didn’t lower her arms. “I’m a virgin, Johnny. You want me, I know you want me. I’m offering all I’ve got to thank you.”
With almost a growl in his throat, he came to her, pulled her into his embrace. His naked skin still dripped water but his bare flesh burned like a fever against her.
His passion scared her as he held her, covered her mouth with his, and put his big hands on her small, bare bottom. His big body seemed to envelop hers so completely, she could scarcely breath. She felt his hard arousal through the blue cavalry pants he wore. He was built like a stallion, and it terrified her.
He seemed to sense her woodenness, stopped kissing her, and looked down into her face. “What’s the matter? You don’t want me?”
She tried to smile up at him bravely. “I–I owe you. I pay my debts.”
He took her face between his two big hands, then smiled with no mirth. “So that’s how it’s to be? No tenderness, no wanting–just like a white whore in North Platte?”
“If you say so.” She was so afraid of the experience, of the fervor of his passion, that she trembled in his grasp. Would it be sheer agony when this Pawnee stud rammed into her and tore her virgin sheath?
“Then if you’re going to play the whore, L
uci, let’s not make any pretenses about it.” He sounded disappointed and shoved her roughly to the blanket. “If you can be so cold about this, I’ll treat you like a paid slut. Do you hate paying a debt to a Pawnee that bad?”
She didn’t hate him at all . . . or did she? She didn’t know what she thought or felt. Woodenly, she lay down on the blanket on her back.
“Now spread your legs.” He began taking off his pants, tossing two silver dollars on her bare belly. “I don’t know how much you figure you owe me, but I don’t want you to come up short on this deal.”
Would he leave her no dignity? She lay there in the almost darkness of the coming night, looking up at him. The silver dollars felt cold and heavy on her bare skin. Luci dutifully spread her thighs and looked up at him.
He was naked now and even bigger than she had thought. She could never take the size of him without tearing and bleeding. She tried to stop herself from trembling as he came down on his knees between her thighs. His expression and his voice were cold as steel. “The best whores don’t just lie there, Star Eyes, they pretend they want the man, too. You’ll get a bigger tip that way and the customer will come back again.”
“I–I don’t know what to do. You’ll have to show me.” She kept her voice matter-of-fact although a torrent of fear and emotion was raging inside her.
“You’re right, you know, I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you. I keep trying to forget you’re an enemy, that we could never make a go of it.” His voice became a ragged, reluctant whisper as he leaned over and took her small breasts in his two big hands. “Maybe once I’ve had you, and smeared my seed all over you, the hunger will be gone and I can forget you.”
And he sprawled on top of her, his manhood hot and throbbing against her bare thigh. His hands squeezed and stroked her breasts while his burning mouth covered hers and his tongue plunged deep between her lips.
His skin was still wet and his nakedness was like a flame against her body. Part of her wanted what he had to give, but she was afraid and trembled violently.
He rose up on his elbows, looking down at her in puzzlement. “Are you that afraid of me?”
She tried to deny it, gasped, and began to cry. “I–I pay my debts and I owe you!”
He cursed and sat up. “You damned little bitch! I’ve got pride, too. You think I’d take you, knowing–”
“You said you wanted me, and I owe you for saving my life, and–”
“Will you stop saying that?” His eyes were so full of fury, she thought he would strike her and shied away.
He sighed heavily and stood up. “I’ve never raped a woman and damned if I’ll start with some Cheyenne chit who’ll make me feel guilty about it forever!”
He went over to his saddlebags, got his makin’s and rolled a cigarette while she rose up on one elbow and watched his magnificent body gleam in the moonlight.
“Mercy! Did I do something wrong?” She couldn’t understand why he was so angry.
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong–except be yourself. I’m angry with myself.” He lit the cigarette and leaned against a tree.
“Why?”
“Dammit, Star Eyes, do I have to spell it out for you? I never had a virgin before, I didn’t know they were so–” He seemed to struggle for a word, then gave up with an exasperated sigh.
She didn’t know what he expected her to do now so she kept silent, watching his magnificent naked body while he smoked.
“I want you, yes, and I guess I’m crazy. I want you to want me.” He acted embarrassed, chagrined to say the words. “It’s all I can do to keep from climbing on you, shoving my rod as deep into you as I can get. It’s the stallion in me, I suppose. All I can think of is how I’d like to explode within you, put my baby in that smooth little belly. Nine months from now, I’d like to see those small breasts swollen with milk for my son . . . and for me!”
“You don’t need to make me think you care about me. Don’t feel guilty about taking what I offer,” she whispered softly. “We both know it could never work out. Not unless we turned our backs on the rest of the world and went off together, just the two of us.”
“Like Adam and Eve in the book they made us read in the boarding school.” He shook his head, and threw the cigarette away. “You’re right. All you’ve got to give is your virginity and I know how the Cheyenne prize that among their women. That’s all you’ve got to give, Small One, and I’m either too noble or too stupid to take it.”
She looked at him, not sure whether she was relieved . . . or disappointed.
“When we get back to the fort, I guess I’ll try to help you get back to your tribe. Maybe that’s where you belong, with some big Cheyenne buck between your thighs, putting his son in your belly. You’d have a place of honor in his tipi then. Let’s get some sleep,” he muttered, going over to the saddlebags. “We have to get started before dawn.”
He got himself a blanket and moved across from her. “Roll up in the one you’ve got, Luci. You’ve got my word I won’t bother you. Your precious virginity is safe. You can iron some clothes for me if you still feel beholden when we get back to the fort.”
He had rejected what she offered. Either that or he wanted something more that she didn’t know how to give. Without a word, she wrapped up in her blanket. He did the same. After a while, she heard his soft, even breathing as he slept, but she couldn’t sleep.
She lay there for hours, staring up at the stars. Her mind went again and again to the memory of his hot, wet skin against hers, the taste of his mouth. In her mind, his big hands covered her breasts and kneaded her nipples. She felt the dewy wetness of wanting a man deep in her velvet place.
The night had turned chill and she had only the one blanket. Her oversized shirt lay thrown carelessly across the grass a few feet away. She knew that if she moved to get it, Johnny would awaken. Somewhere a coyote howled and Katis raised his great head briefly and then went back to munching grass.
Luci shivered again and looked over at Johnny, remembering the heat of his skin against hers, remembering the security and shelter of his warm embrace.
The coyote howled again, closer this time. Even though she knew the cowardly little animal wouldn’t dare move in close enough to bother her, she was scared. She was also cold. For a long time she lay there until she was so chilled, her teeth were almost chattering. Finally, taking a deep breath for courage, she gathered up her blanket and crawled across the intervening space between them.
Johnny exploded out of his blankets as she reached him. She couldn’t move or even cry out as he grabbed her, and held his blade against her throat.
Then he seemed to recognize her, relaxed, and swore softly. “Dammit, Star Eyes, don’t ever do that again. I might have cut your throat before I realized you weren’t an enemy brave sneaking up on me. What is it you want?”
She looked up at him. “I–I’m cold.”
He shrugged. “I only got one blanket, but if you want it–”
“We’d be warmer if we spread both of them over the two of us.”
He shrugged. “I’m not cold,”
“I am.”
He sighed heavily, and threw up his hands as if in defeat, “You push me to the limit, Star Eyes, you know that? After everything that’s happened, you expect to cuddle up next to me and just sleep? I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve sworn not to rape you.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Damnit, you oughta be!”
She crawled in next to him and spread the two blankets over both of them. The heat from his big body spread though her and she put her head on his shoulder. He lay stiff, as if afraid to relax.
She wanted him, she knew it deep inside. She wanted him and it had nothing to do with owing him. She turned over and faced him, pressing tightly against him.
“Luci, don’t do that.”
“Make love to me.”
“You don’t owe me, you hear?”
“Make love to me anyway.”
He groaned aloud. “Your little Cheyenne chit. You’ve brought me nothing but trouble. I can sleep for thinking of you. My body actually aches from wanting you, I–”
Her lips cut off his words and he paused as if surprised at her action. “No, Luci–”
But she flickered her tongue along his lips and pressed her breasts against him so hard that they flattened against his hard chest.
“Luci, I’m warning you . . .”
“I–I want to be taught whatever I need to know.”
He rose up on one elbow, looking at her in the moonlight, his eyes dark with pent-up emotion. “Taught by a Pawnee?”
“I–that doesn’t matter,”
“Your eyes, your expression, tell me it does.”
His gaze burned into her and she looked away. “I only know that at this moment, I want you, Johnny, and I don’t care about anything else.”
He seemed to be fighting some kind of battle with himself. “Tomorrow you’ll regret giving your virginity to an enemy.”
“Maybe. I–I don’t know.” She slipped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
With a shudder, he pulled her against him and kissed her hotly, sucking the tip of her tongue deep between his lips while his hands stroked and explored her body. She started to protest, stiffening in a momentary fear as his big hands stroked her bare thighs and probed inside her. “I’ll go slow,” he whispered, “I’ll–”
She cut off his words with her mouth as she pushed her body against his hand, trembling with the touch of his fingers stroking and teasing there. She felt his manhood big and hard as a stallion’s against her thigh and the wetness of his virile seed leaving a trail on her belly as he tilted her head back and kissed her deeply, filling her throat with his tongue as she surrendered to his domination. But still he did not enter her.
Cheyenne Caress Page 14